To the contrary, White's no-nonsense explanation of the steps police would take to find services and help for homeless people underscores the city's compassionate approach to the homeless.

Yes, compassionate. Denver has been a willing partner in efforts to get the homeless into housing and find services for them.

The city has long tolerated panhandling and scattered pockets of homeless who spread sleeping bags beneath trees and under bridges.

The big change for Denver came when large groups of people began staking out important public spaces, effectively taking them over. We're talking about the 16th Street Mall and Civic Center.

It's one thing to try to help the homeless and not take draconian police action when small numbers set up camp here and there. It's another entirely to give tacit approval to mass camps in the center of the city. The latter infringes on the rights of others, and it's untenable.

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White's approach, in which arrests would be the last resort, need not be ensconced in ordinance, and we hope the Denver City Council doesn't try to force it. That is a matter of discretion better left to understandings between the mayor and police chief.

If the approach were to change — say, with a new police chief or mayoral administration — then the council could revisit the issue.

Denver City Council's Health, Safety, Education and Services Committee gathered at the City County Building in Denver on last Tuesday to discuss police protocol and an amendment to the unauthorized camping ordinance. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post )

Homeless camping enforcement in Colorado Springs offers an example as to how it can be done without mass arrests. As Denver Post reporter Jeremy P. Meyer explained in a story last month, Colorado Springs devoted three police officers to deal with a massive homeless encampment, some 600 strong.

They helped people go home to their families. Some went into drug and alcohol rehab. Some got jobs. Others went into subsidized or transitional housing. At the end of the effort, most had moved on.

That is essentially the approach Denver is advocating, and we think it's a good one.

Yes, services need to expand, but that's not the only answer.

An approach that combines compassion with the power to arrest people who refuse services and won't move on is a sensible way to address the complex issue of homelessness.

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